Forum 41293: 24 Americans

The United States plane was on a routine surveillance mission in international waters gathering listening information on a rogue nation (China). I watched the Chinese ambassador Yang Jiechi field questions on TV yesterday about the plane incident. China feels the U.S. must take all responsibilities for the incident and apologize and agree to stay away from the region in the future. After the Chinese jet fighter hit the surveillance plane (causing the incident) a mayday was issued and the plane in distress then entered Chinese airspace and put down at an airport in Hainan island. The American crew were taken at gunpoint off the plane and remain hostage at this hour. The Chinese boarded the plane and removed equipment. There is a surpressed news item report from a news agency in Taiwan that the disabled plane was fired upon by the Chinese jet fighters. This obscure report has not been commented on by U.S. news agencies as Americans seem to only listen to their own sources. It is possible that the item is not investigated and surpressed in the U.S. so as not to inflame the situation further while efforts continue to gain release of the hostage aircrew. China would like to see the U.S. away from the region and extort an agreement from them to not supply Taiwan with arms as China is ready to invade Taiwan and seize it when conditions are ideal. Also the Chinese need time to examine the equipment from the plane and gather information from that source. A lot of collateral damage from this incident. The Chinese do not have their old buddy comrade Clinton to deal with but maybe he will stop in for a visit before he returns from India. Under all the circumstances known there is no reason to hold the crew of the downed plane or the property. The Chinese attitude is that power is born out of the barrel of a gun, they are a rogue commie nation who believe that the end justifies the means and they intend to manipulate world opinion against the U.S. over this incident.